DUSHANBE, October 23, Asia-Plus — “Involvement of the economies of the Central Asian countries into the world market ands strengthening of globalization and integration processes make Central Asia accessible to investments and industrial development,” Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi remarked today, inaugurating a regional two-day OSCE conference on prospects fro Trans-Asian and Eurasian transit development in Central Asia.
According to him, cooperation among countries of the landlocked region on transit transportation is promoting removing obstacles on the way of free movement of people and goods. “Such cooperation is reducing the countries’ isolation from the world market and promoting development of export industries, thereby contributing to increase in economic potentials of them,” Zarifi said, noting that the conference is dedicated to give new impulse to further expansion of regional cooperation in the field of transport not only in Central Asia but also in Caucasus.
For his part, Tajik Transport and Communications Minister Abdurahim Ashour noted that his ministry had already prepared a list of investment projects aimed at enhancing transport infrastructure in Tajikistan.
“Construction of roads, airports, tunnels and bridges will allow improving the country’s transit opportunities and linking Tajikistan via international transit highways to seaports in Pakistan and Iran, and will help Tajikistan tackle its transit transportation isolation,” the minister said.
The conference has brought together high-level customs and transport officials from Central Asia and the South Caucasus, officials from OSCE”s Asian Partners for Cooperation Afghanistan, Japan and Mongolia, and representatives from Russian Federation, Turkey and other OSCE participating States to discuss the transit transportation challenges facing the landlocked region.
Participants include Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi, Ambassador Ivar Vikki, Head of the OSCE Center in Almaty (Kazakhstan), Rustan Jenalinov, Secretary General of the Inter Governmental Commission Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia, and Serik Primbetov, Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Economic Community as well as international experts from the United Nations, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank and the World Customs Organization.
The high-level conference is expected to help strengthen political co-operation on transit transportation issues across the region. It will also contribute to a regional mid-term review of the 2003 Almaty Program of Action, which was designed to address the special needs of landlocked developing countries.
